Martin Scorsese is regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the New Hollywood era, with five of his movies being included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Scorsese’s movies are described as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, which, back in the 1970s and 1980s, had an Italian-American influence and an upbringing in New York.

Filmmakers’s trademarks include extensive use of slow motion and freeze frames, graphic depictions of extreme violence, and liberal use of profanity. Scorsese, with his years of experience, garnered attention after he commented about how he does not consider Marvel movies to be cinema. But a screenwriter who has closely worked with the filmmaker on various projects disagrees with him.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull

Paul Schrader disagrees with Martin Scorsese’s comments on Marvel movies

Screenwriter-filmmaker and film critic Paul Schrader, who is widely known for his contribution as a screenwriter for Martin Scorsese’s movies, including Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead, disagrees with his views on Marvel movies.

Schrader started collaborating with Scorsese on 1976’s Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro. The duo later reunited for 1980’s Raging Bull, once again starring De Niro. The screenwriter rewrote the screenplay initially written by Mardik Martin, with Scorsese and Di Niro giving their suggestions throughout.
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver

The movie opened up to a mixed response from the audience and the critics. Despite Raging Bull’s lukewarm performance at the box office, it was nominated for eight awards at the 53rd Academy Awards. De Niro won his second Oscar for Best Actor for Raging Bull.

Over the years, the filmmaker has reached a point where his views on cinema have been respected and heard, but his comments on Marvel movies which he penned down for an op-ed in New York Times, did not sit right with the audience as well as his collaborator Paul Schrader. In his GQ profile, Schrader expressed that he does not agree with Scorsese’s opinions on Marvel movies. He said,

“No, they are cinema. So is that cat video on YouTube? It’s cinema. It’s kind of surprising that what we used to regard as adolescent entrainment, comic books for teenagers, has become the dominant genre economically.”

The screenwriter noted that now every generation is informed by literature, theater, live television, or film school. He said to the publication that we now live in a world where generations have been informed by video games and manga, noting that it’s not that the filmmakers have changed, but it’s the audience that has changed. Schrader added that the movies that were being made in the 50s, 60s, or 70s are still being made, but they are no longer the center of conversation because the center dropped out.

Paul Schrader describes Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Killers of the Flower Moon as an ‘idiot’

In his recent interview with France’s Le Monde, the screenwriter, who has been a well-known collaborator of Martin Scorsese, shared his view on Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro star as the lead characters in the movie. He describes the movie as ‘good but notes that it could have been better.

“Marty compares me to a Flemish miniaturist. He would be more the type who paints Renaissance frescoes. Give him $200 million; a good film will inevitably come out of it. That said, I would have preferred Leonardo DiCaprio to play the role of the cop in Killers of the Flower Moon rather than the role of the idiot.”

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon
The screenwriter-film critic noted that three-and-a-half hours in the company of an idiot is a long time. Scorsese had shared with The Irish Times that it was DiCaprio who had called him up and requested a script change, which he had been writing from FBI Agent Tom White’s perspective. The actor expressed his desire to play Ernest Burkhart instead of Tom White.

Jesse Plemons stepped in to play Tom White, which was later changed to a supporting character rather than the lead. Changing the script did pay off well for the cast of Killers of the Flower Moon, as the movie not only opened to critical and commercial success but was also named one of the best movies of the year. Schrader, however, feels Oppenheimer was one of the most important movies of the century.

Killers of the Flower Moon is available to stream on Apple TV+. Raging Bull is available to stream on Prime Video.